


Hellenistic Justice - Fixing Barbara Walker's Amazon

by senselessmusing



Category: Amazon: A Novel - Barbara G. Walker
Genre: Cults, Fix-It, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Spitefic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 04:29:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16442981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/senselessmusing/pseuds/senselessmusing
Summary: Ahh, Barbara Walker'sAmazon: A Novel. A book that stars Antiope, a time-traveler from a mythological matriarchal past who finds her way to what seems like the 70s but is supposed to be the 90s. Upon her arrival, she meets a writer named Diana, who gives her room and board for the price of Antiope's image and story. Diana's write-up of Antiope's supposed life and customs leads to a nationwide fad, where people try to emulate Antiope's customs, which include mother goddesses, a hodgepodge of rituals belonging to different pagan groups past and present and possibly non-existent, vigilantism, bodily mutilation for those accused of violence against women, abandoning babies with disabilities to have them slowly starve to death, rampant sexual assault against men, possible child grooming, disabling craftspeople so that they can't escape, gender essentialism, equating womb-ownership with womanhood, and genocide against the Greeks.Yes, this is supposed to be a feminist novel, why do you ask?This story takes place after the establishment of Bloodworth's Temple, in which the universe corrects itself.Originally posted as comments on das-sporking.





	1. OSHA Compliance

A few days after the Beltaine ritual, Diana and I were sitting at the table for breakfast. Diana was reading a newspaper, while I was working my way through a bowl of oatmeal. I had just picked up my glass of orange juice and taken a sip when Diana slammed the newspaper down on the table, right on top of Diana's plate of pancakes and syrup. The noise was enough to cause me to spit out my drink.

"How _dare_ they," she seethed through her teeth. Her face had turned red, and her expression contorted into something I could not understand. My blood ran cold upon looking at it; I could not pin-point why I felt a sense of foreboding, but it was there all the same.

"How dare they do what?" I asked quietly.

"How dare they!" she cried, furiously gesturing to a small headline on the page.

I took a glance at the article that she was pointing at. It was very short, only taking a small column on the page, and it had been hidden on the fifth page, but it had riled Diana up into a furor. As soon as I understood what she was getting at, I understood why she had gotten angry. I, too, felt my face heating up and contorting into a look that must match Diana's.

"Federal authorities force closure of the Bloodworth Temple before opening day," the headline read. A whistleblower had notified the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) about what were listed as "hazards" in the Labyrinth, the laboratory, and in the astronomy tower. The article went on to say that Bloodworth had received a citation notice from OSHA as well as a notice from the Department of Justice for violations of the Americans with Disablities Act. and that she was likely facing monetary penalties. As the laboratory was intended for diagnostic testing of patients in the medical center, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services was also involved. Due to the serious nature of the hazards involved, the Temple had been shut down before it had been opened to the public.

"How _dare_ they!" Diana continued to bellow as I read the article in its entirety. She couldn't seem to be able to say anything else.

Anger burned through my mind, but I was too furious to speak. All of that effort, all of that time, all of that _money_ , wasted because of some man-loving, woman-hating _snitch_. Millions of women were denied the chance to renew their spirits and find the Goddess, all because of something as silly as "safety hazards" and "ADA noncompliance." Diana was right, how _dare_ they do such a thing?

My anger continued on till bedtime that night. Little did I know, the worst was yet to come.


	2. Southern Quarterly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's note: Inspiration for this part comes from _New West_ 's exposé on Peoples Temple published August 1, 1977. This article is significant in Peoples Temple history, as in the immediate aftermath of its publication, the Temple began sending over their followers to Guyana, South America, en masse. In a few months, over a thousand people will reside in what later became known as Jonestown. The following is not intended as an indictment of all marginalized religions or of pagan groups as a whole in the real world, only of the pagan religion described in _Amazon_.

Shortly after the Temple was shut down by authorities for violating building codes, ADA requirements, and worker safety, Diana and I were watching walking down the street, having gone out to get some groceries for dinner that night. Our anger over the Temple's closing had abated some, but had not completely receded. In fact, Bloodworth had issued a statement stating that despite the closure of the original Temple, she was going to rebuild it and get it reopened in the next two months, and that neither society nor the government will keep her down.

On our way back, arms filled with groceries, we passed by a newsstand. Diana liked to pick up the evening paper to read every night; she said that she liked to check up on current events, so that during dinners with her sister and brother-in-law, she can bring up statistics and stories to back up her arguments against her brother-in-law. While she was paying for the paper, I took a look at the news magazines for sale. That's when I saw it.

"Inside the Temple of Our Blessed Mother," read the major headline on the front page of _Southern Quarterly_. "Is Bloodworth the head of another Jonestown? Employees, family members, former cult members speak out against _Amazon_ , the Temple and its erratic head."

I tugged at Diana's sleeve. "Look, Diana, look." She followed my finger and saw what I was pointing. Shortly thereafter, she picked up and copy and purchased it on the spot.

When we finally got home, Diana went to prepare dinner, leaving me alone to study the news magazine. On page 13, I got to the article whose headline was on the front cover.

> "Sales of _Amazon_ (Diana Foster with Ann Tyapay, Secret Ink Publishing, 1990) have influenced a nationwide phenomenon of women identifying with the ancient Mother Goddess described in the book. Multiple feminist groups have founded neo-Amazonian cults, which stress women's liberation, spirituality in a Mother Creator, pacifism, environmentalism, and the importance of mothers in imparting those beliefs to their children. It has also given rise to staunch criticism, who accuse Foster and Tyapay of creating dysfunctional families, hatred against men, social unrest, and more recently due to comments made by Tyapay on _The Daisy Williams Show_ , vigilante action against men accused of domestic violence or rape.
> 
> "Matilda Bloodworth, the founder of Matilda Cosmetics, is the leader of one of those feminist groups who founded a neo-Amazonian sect. Her cult, the Temple of Our Blessed Mother, professes to be the most authentic of the various cults, and it claims both Foster and Tyapay as members. The Temple was supposed to open a Temple building in Buffalo earlier this month, only to be shut down by federal and state authorities due to code violations. But is this the end of the Temple's troubles? _Southern Quarterly_ has located several former employees, family members of existing cult members, and apostates of the cult, whose testimonies describe an environment rampant with financial extortion, mysterious deaths, unsafe working conditions, unsanitary religious practices, and child sex abuse.
> 
> "What is going on behind the doors of the Temple of Our Blessed Mother? Are Foster and Tyapay actually endorsing the destruction of American society? And above all, are Americans in danger from similar neo-Amazonian groups?"

As I kept reading the article, I got more and more angry. The authors of the piece, Richard Ellis and Samantha Toonhey, had written a piece meant to smear the names of myself, Diana, and Matilda. Their sources alleged that Matilda had forced her employees to perform rituals that exposed them to bloodborne diseases lest they got fired from their jobs; that contractors hired to build the Temple were required to work over 70 hour weeks to build it; that Matilda and other Temple members had pressured Eliza Bentley, a terminally ill cancer patient, to have the Temple be the sole beneficiary of Bentley's estate before her death via barbiturate overdose; and that Temple members had fondled young girls below the age of 12 "to educate them about the Blessed Mother and initiate them into the 'sacred' Mysteries." Furthermore, they said that they believed that Bloodworth, Diana, and I had taught them these things in order to profit off on unsuspecting women and attain power. In their allusion to a place called "Jonestown," they implied that women were being brainwashed and that Diana's book and my teachings were only going to lead to tragedy and death.

That was unacceptable, for the following reasons: firstly, because I knew that they were lies; secondly, because the authors had no understanding of the Mother Goddess or Her Mysteries, and thus ascribed harm when there wasn't any; thirdly, because the Mother Goddess only gives life and not death to her followers; and finally, because this article was just further woman-hating nonsense intended to keep woman further apart from the Mother, which would lead to more people adopting the beliefs of the Sky God. When Diana read the piece, she also became furious at the authors, and told me that she was planning to sue Ellis, Toonhey, _Southern Quarterly_ , and the John and Jane Does for libel.

Unfortunately, this article was only the beginning. It was as if a bomb had gone off with the _Southern Quarterly_ publication. Soon after, more articles appeared, with more accusations of abuse, more allegations of law-breaking activity, more lies. With that came the academic articles, tearing apart Diana's book to pieces, and calling her a hack whose work was based off of research that was either outdated, discredited, misattributed, distorted, or straight out false. Diana was blacklisted by the academic community, not only for what they saw as badly researched dreck, but for plagiarism. More groups came out against us, furthering the negative press. Secret Ink Publishing went out against Diana, saying that they were unaware that they were publishing "something so fully made up out of whole cloth as to be worthless, and damaging to the fabric of society," and that they were issuing refunds to women who were mislead by her work. Diana was asked to return her advance, as well as her royalties. She didn't have any money for lawyers now. Matilda was under so much scrutiny that she became silent, only speaking through her lawyer, and Matilda's lawyer was making sure to distance both Matilda and the Temple of Our Blessed Mother from us and Diana's book. I thought this couldn't get any worse for Diana and myself.

But there was still yet more to come.


	3. Undocumented Immigrant

Mornings were less enjoyable now than they were a few months ago. Mornings were when the postal service worker would come by and drop off that day's mail, and with each passing day, I began to dread the arrival of the postal service worker, and thus more letters, more and more.

When Diana's book first came out, we used to get letters from people all over the nation thanking Diana for writing her book and me for telling my story, and telling us how they have now found spiritual guidance through Mother. Women wrote to us for advice, from the mundane "what stones were used for worship" to "I need guidance from the Mother Goddess on how to deal with an abusive husband." We did sometimes get letters from people accusing us of being witches, Satanists, atheists, man-hating shrews who needed to be tamed, cursed by God, and the like, but they were overwhelmed by the number of women who were helped by knowing about Mother and how they had innate power of giving birth to new life. The Greeks had forced women to accept an inferior position by making them forget how powerful they were, to teach them that they were dirty and disgusting and lesser. But now, people were beginning to wake up to the truth, including women like Matilda Bloodworth, who built buildings and founded Mother Goddess groups so that women could learn about Her and regain the powers that she had been forced to forget and deride. The world was changing for the better, and I knew it was right.

With all of the backlash against Diana's book and the Mother Goddess, the contents of the letters changed. Now, instead of gratitude, women were angry with us. People sent us letters detailing how they felt used by us, how they now understood that the Mother was just a means of destruction, how we were pedophiles hoping to legitimize the rape of children, and how they hoped that we would burn in hell. Because of Richard Ellis and Samantha Toonhey, people believed that we were frauds and cheats. Ms Magazine wrote an article claiming that we were doing more harm than good. The National Organization for Women denounced us for hurting women -- the very people that I wanted to help. Blacks, Asians, and Indians came out to say that we were "only advocating for white women," while still others called Diana backwards and stuck in the past. More and more women were turning away from the Mother, going back to the Sky God that hurt them in the first place, and embracing him more full-heartedly than before. Knowing that this was happening made me more and more upset. I had failed the Mother! She had sent me here with a purpose, and everything was becoming undone!

Meanwhile, reporters had been contacting us for comment about the increasing number of lies being spread about us: allegations related to the Temple of Our Blessed Mother, the vigilante groups, the "falsehoods" that inept scholars and journalists claimed to have found out about myself and my background. We were subjects of a witch hunt that had never been before seen, and I couldn't imagine how much worse it could get. Mother Goddess worshippers were murdered in the millions in order to legitimize the false Sky God. What would they do to us?

As it turns out, the Greeks had other plans. Amidst all of the backlash, someone became interested in finding out where I had come from. Although I repeatedly told them that I was a guest of Diana's, and that I didn't need things like "birth certificates" or "state IDs" or "passports" or "visas" to prove my identity, since such things were utterly unheard of in my country, apparently they were not convinced, and a small group of so-called investigators and federal prosecutors became interested in my background. Eventually, all of this "investigation" came to a head when Immigration and Naturalization Service came for me.

Diana and I were sitting on a bench at a park. Diana was reading a book, while I was gazing at the young children, who were playing what seemed to be a game of "tag" -- clearly training for lives on the violent battlefield. I shuddered, thinking about how they would grow up not knowing about Mother.

While I was in thought, a woman and a man walked up towards us, wearing officer's clothing. I didn't particularly care for them. The man was clearly ugly, with a pudgy belly, balding head, and unshaven face. The woman looked a little better, except that she had too bright of a color of lipstick on her lips, and her dark hair was pulled back in an unkempt ponytail.

They stopped in front of us. Odd. The man coughed, catching Diana's attention.

"What do you want?" Diana asked.

The woman then spoke. "Hello, Diana Foster and Ann... um, Tyapay, is it?" She paused, and quickly looked down at the paper she was holding. "No matter. My name is Justine Tam, and this is my partner Chris Jacoboski. We are agents of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. We are putting you, Ms. Foster, under arrest for human trafficking. In addition, we are putting you, Ms. Tyapay, under arrest for entering the United States without authorization."

Diana blew a gasket. "Do you even have a warrant?" she demanded.

Ignoring Diana, Justine kept speaking to me. "We have warrants for your arrests, Ms. Foster and Ms. Tyapay, issued by INS--"

"YOU MADE THAT UP!" Diana yelled.

My hand reached for my side, but felt only empty air. Then I remembered -- we had left my sword at home. Diana had convinced me to not bring it with me today, saying that it would do no good for the Goddess if I had damaged or lost it during today's short outing. She still believed that someone would soon write an article blowing all of the critics' accusations to pieces, and that she would be able to sue people for libel and reclaim her reputation as a famous celebrity, a highly regarded journalist and a well acclaimed scholar. The witch hunt would then end as women finally emerged victorious, and Mother Goddess worship would be restored. I had reluctantly agreed, not wanting to push women further away from Mother. Because my sword would be important in convincing the redeemer that all of those rumors were just lies and that the Mother Goddess is real and worth worshipping, we put it in a safe place in Diana's room. This was unfortunate.

No matter. Even without my sword, I had my words. I could convince the woman that she was being lied to by the establishment, and hopefully convert her to my side. If I could do that, then I could get her to help end the witch hunt. It was worth a try.

I looked at Justine in the eye. "I know that you only answer to the Sky God. I do not recognize His authority; he is a false god, and if you are willing to listen, I can tell you the truth about Mother. Don't listen to what those hateful Greeks say about me or Diana. Denounce him," I said, gesturing to Chris, "and I will enlighten you, just like I taught Diana."

Justine stared at me, incredulously. She muttered something under her breath; I couldn't catch all of it, but it seemed to have something to do with Jesus, who was dancing for some reason. Her eyes then narrowed. "Ms. Tyapay, we have an authorization here from the federal government, if you resist arrest--"

Diana interjected angrily. "You two have absolutely no right, you're interfering with my research, you're--" Her face was turning red; one could imagine smoke coming out of her ears.

"Ma'am, we are here on legal business--" began Chris.

"How _dare_ you, you male chauvinist pig!" Diana continued to scream at the officers standing before us. "I don't care, Ann is my friend and research partner, she has me to thank for saving her from men like you, and if any of you lay a hand on her--"

"Are you threatening us?" asked Justine, looking on Diana this time. "Because if you are, we can charge you with resisting arrest and threatening assault, in addition to the current charge of human trafficking."

Diana's eyes widened, her face turning white. "N-no."

"Good." Justine then put her in handcuffs.

Diana stood there, seemingly accepting her fate as she listened to Chris read her Miranda rights. Then, while Chris was taking her away to a waiting car, as if a cry, she begged, "Ann, you understand, right? Please, you understand, I had to! I had to! Please, understand, I had to!" She looked broken now, but I didn't care. At the final hour, she, my longest and my most trusted friend, had betrayed me, and left me to the whims of the false Sky God. I turned away from her in disgust.

Chris returned and put my hands behind my back. I was then handcuffed in the same fashion that Diana was. Justine opened her mouth to recite my rights, and it was as if her voice came through a haze. As she was saying the words, I thought I could hear everything coming to a final crash.

"Ann Tyapay, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent..."


End file.
